Life Begins as a PhD Student

Welcome back folks. Can you believe I’m a term into my PhD already and I haven’t blogged a single word in all that time! To be honest with you, I’m not entirely sure why I haven’t put finger to key and mustered up something to say about how it’s been. I was so excited to start and had visions of sharing every step of the journey, but as you can see that hasn’t been the case. I’ve really had to hit the ground running, and while I do manage to procrastinate in less useful ways than writing a blog, doing anything other than something towards the PhD at the moment makes me feel incredibly guilty. But as it’s almost Christmas I thought I’d best get back on it.

So I guess you’re wondering how’s it been? Well, let’s just say I absolutely love the whole PhD experience and am so glad to be back in academia – in a funny way it feels like I’ve come home. Don’t get me wrong it’s definitely been an adjustment - meeting everyone, settling into a new university, getting to grips with life at a partner institution, learning a new language, a new historiography – but it is one I wouldn’t trade for the world. It is still early days and I am still finding my feet, but I remain confident that applying for a PhD was the right decision for me.

So perhaps, rather than getting bogged down in huge swathes of text, I’ll just bullet point some of the keys things I’ve learnt/taken away/must remember etc. so far:

1. Go easy on yourself – you will never feel like you’re doing enough. But remember, it’s a marathon not a sprint.
2. Be sure to build in “you” time.
3. You will have productive days, and not so productive days. And that’s ok – just go with it!
4. Go to as many inductions as possible – meet people and socialise. The relationships you build early on will be invaluable. These guys know what it’s like better than anyone else – share your experiences, anxieties and achievements with them. You’re all in the same boat and chances are they’re feeling or have felt the same way as you at some point along the way.
5. Invest time early on in getting to grips with referencing software, it will save so much time in the future. I’d never particularly got on with referencing software before, choosing to do it “manually”, but I am now happy to report I am a fully-fledged convert.
6. Read and read again until you really understand what you’ve read - even if that means having to read something three times! There’s no cutting corners on this one. 
7. Start that all important bibliography now and make notes of key points as you go.
8. Every library has a different cataloguing system – you will get lost, end up walking up and down aisles and draw the attention of experienced residents to the fact that you are a library newbie. Get over it and ask them for help.
9. Think about your end game early on – if you want a certain career once you’ve finished you have to be thinking about that now. Even when faced with information overload – make room! (I say this, but that doesn’t mean I’ve actually managed to deal with that one yet).
10. But I think most of all, continue to remember why you (and I really mean I) wanted to do a PhD in the first place and make sure to enjoy it.

The first term has been somewhat of a rollercoaster, but I’m enjoying it hugely and wouldn’t have it any other way!